Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Wednesday TV/Media Links

Let's catch up on some of the NASCAR news and notes from the past few days:

ESPN just loves the fact that Kyle Busch got a speeding ticket on Tuesday. OK, so he got it for going 128mph in a 45mph zone, but it's just a ticket. OK, so he got it driving the little yellow number above, but it's just a ticket. OK, so he had an unidentified female with him at the time, but it's just a ticket.

Pardon The Interruption (PTI) led with that story and it showed up all over the ESPN network news shows. In a flash it was viral, even getting the sleazy star (click here) treatment from Harvey Levin and the TMZ Hollywood crowd.

In true JGR style, a quick apology came from Busch:

"Today I received a traffic citation in Iredell County. I was test driving a new sports car and I got carried away. I went beyond the speed I should have been going on a public road. I apologize to the public, my fans, sponsors, and race teams for my lack of judgment. I take responsibility for my actions and I can assure you that something like this will never happen again. I thank the Iredell County Sheriff's Department and all law enforcement for the hard work they do every day to protect the public and to enforce the laws in a fair and equitable manner."

It should be interesting to see how far this story spreads in the mainstream media. Both NASCAR Now and Race Hub have proven to be very fair when dealing with issues for drivers away from the racetrack.

Speaking of high-profile celebrities, the Charlotte Motor Speedway passed along the fact that Darius Rucker is going to be singing the National Anthem before the Coke 600 on Sunday. He is a University of South Carolina grad and a Charleston, SC native who is no stranger to pro sports and NASCAR. Great choice by the speedway.

Speaking of speedways, the ESPN gang had a conference call this week about the Indy 500. Sr. VP Jed Drake said the production will have 64 cameras, 12 in-car camera set-ups and the infamous "bat-cam" that is on a wire and runs the length of pit road overhead. There will be two super slo-mo cams aimed at the corners and the team will be pushing more team audio into the telecast. Finally, our favorite motorsports host Brent Musburger will again be joining the telecast team.

Speaking of hosts, Marty Reid will be working in Indy so once again Allen Bestwick gets the nod to call the Nationwide Series race on Saturday. He will have Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree alongside. Let's hope someone gets the bright idea to sneak Hall of Famer and ESPN veteran Ned Jarrett up to the broadcast booth during the telecast for a little air time.

On a sad note, Ray Evernham's father passed away on Sunday at the age of 80. Ray Sr. was a long-time racer and mechanic. The younger Evernham left his post at ESPN to work for Rick Hendrick this season and has kept a very low media profile. There was a rumor that SPEED was trying to get him into the fold but that apparently has not worked out. When Evernham was teamed with Ricky Craven, ESPN had a strong studio team that the network has never been able to match since Evernham's departure.

Folks have been asking about Michelle Bonner, the ESPN on-air talent who has been hosting NASCAR Now. Both Mike Massaro and Nicole Briscoe have been working out in the field on NASCAR telecasts. Briscoe again hosts the NNS pre-race show this weekend and Massaro is a pit reporter.

Bonner came to ESPN in 2005 after a two-year stint as a sports reporter and anchor for CNN. A Massachusetts native, Bonner is a Northeastern University grad and has been working on ESPNNEWS and SportsCenter during her time at ESPN. She has been filling-in for two years on NASCAR Now and is getting great reviews.

Ratings from the weekend were less than spectacular. Here is the official note from SPEED:

Coverage of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race on Saturday scored an average household rating of 3.32 according to Nielsen Media Research, up 1% from last year’s 3.30. The race peaked at a 4.08 and averaged 3,993,000 viewers.

On Friday, coverage of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race scored a .98, up 42% from last year’s rain-delayed .69 and that is the highest rating from Charlotte since 2008. Race coverage peaked at 1.30 HH rating and averaged more than one million viewers.

What SPEED is a little miffed about and the trio in the booth chose not to pass along is that the more than thirty-minute delay between races was due to the failure of the giant video board set-up for the introductions. The JHE Production Group eventually fixed the problem, but there was little doubt that some portion of the audience moved on during the delay.

Finally, there was a little breaking news on SportsCenter today. Anchor Linda Cohn reported that ESPN's Terry Blount has confirmed that Danica Patrick is making the switch to NASCAR on a full-time basis in 2012. Blount's information said Patrick will run the Nationwide Series for the championship next year and mix in some selected Sprint Cup Series events. In 2013, she would go Cup racing full-time.

Click here to see the video of the Danica story from ESPN's YouTube page. Blount did not have any details about the teams involved but said Patrick would bring her Go Daddy sponsorship with her to NASCAR.

Happy to have your comments on these topics, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thank you for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

This speeding ticket will be an important part of the script this weekend for the 600. Like Jonathan said, he could have killed people and he'll probably laugh about it like in that commercial with JJ & team and that car falls off the rack and they laugh!

Oh for gods sake... as much as I despise Kyle Busch, this is really a non-story in regards to him and NASCAR. It is a person issue and if there is any type of fine or points deduction for 'actions detrimental to NASCAR' I say it is CRUD!

Ah, doesn't it just figure? - the race was delayed for problems with the big screen TV. Sitting at the race, going -- can we get this going?? If I had been at home, I'd have set the DVR and gone to bed, but at least now I know why it was delayed - thanks for that JD.

sorry to hear about Ray's dad passing away. It is always a difficult thing.

Kyle's ticket may be not be newsworthy to some but I travel that road regulary and was on ittwice yesterday. It is crooked and hilly and around the time he was caught was filled with school buses. I hope the Iredell CountyJudge will see fit to set an example of Mr. Busch and his no-care attitude! I know NA$CAR andJGR could care less.

JD, thanks for passing along the info on the delay on the start of the All-Star race. I always record the All-Star race to skip all the intros and other stuff in the middle of the broadcast. When the racing didn't get started until 7:30, I wondered why that was. I guess that explains it.

The fans are having a field day with Kyle Busch's speeding ticket on the message boards. So I suspect the networks will continue with it through the weekend. Even Fox will mention it, but I'm sure DW won't have much to say except for a joke.

Steve, if it was LeBron, it would be an NBA story. If it was Thom Brady, it would be an NFL story. You get a ticket like this, it's news. As for NASCAR, well--it closely resembles his brother's incident--I can't recall if he was penalized by NASCAR, I don't think so. But his *sponsor*--well, they suspended him, but that was the end of the relationship anyway. M&M's are selling candy, a lot of it to kids. They may have some issues, but I would think it's up to them.

To be perfectly honest, I don't watch ESPN very much. I wondered why the race started late so thanks for that explanation.

Now on to other things mentioned by some of the posters. So no one was hurt and it is a non story according to Steve? How about what 52 year fan said about the fact that it was the time of day that the road is usually filled with school buses? To all of you who think it was nothing, I ask you: have you ever seen a crash where children are involved? Do you have any idea what tow truck drivers and the state police see in some of these accidents? If you do, then I would think you would not be so glib about the possibilities of what could have happened but didn't.

Jeepers there is beaucoup hand wringing over this KyBu stuff. What if it had been Junior? Would so many in so many places be calling for his head? Anyway, a few friends and fellow readers of this blog (though lurkers) called me and castigated me for my comment so here my total position on this paramount issue of the day:

Kyle is a 26-year old boy. Many of us did a similar thing at that age. Hell, I probably would have done it when I was 56 if someone had given me that kind of car with or without a girl in the car with me. It is the equivalent of going out your front door where a bunch of kids are in the yard and hollering, “Who wants pizza?” He got snagged. He will be punished. But he should not be hung. He will be fined. He will get a suspension. He will get community service, probably talking to kids about driver safety. Worst of all he will have to have a “meeting” with Coach Gibbs. I remember a few years ago for some reason Smoke had to have such a meeting and afterward said it was something you do not want to have to do. After all his years in sports I feel certain the Coach is really good at that kind of “meeting”.

Yet no one, and I mean NO ONE has mentioned the other aspect even though this story is all over creation: The value added to Lexus. You cannot buy this kind of advertising. Ticket on Tuesday, sell on Wednesday, and Thursday and…

I believe that the car he was driving is fairly quick. 0-100 in 4 seconds. That's from a standing start. From 35 or 40 it would be considerably less. Busch intended to go fast but I don't thing he meant to exceed double the limit.

There is no evidence that there were hills, curves or school buses in the proximity of the indiscretion. That's hearsay by a jealous bystander.

If this were any other sport it would be considered irrelevant to the game and the league would pay it no mind. The same should happen in this situation with the stipulation that if he is caught more than 50% over the speed limit in the next 12 months he will receive a three race suspension.

Mr Editor -As some of you may recall, the broadcast lost me just 20 laps into the All-Star Race (LOL) ...but the delay, unexcusably unexplained, didn't help ...with FOX morphing into ESPN (ala DW instead of RW), why should we have expected a comment ...as for KB, he regressed into the goof-off he was several years ago, so no big deal ...except for the usual morning traffic on that stretch of road -school buses?- makes it a BIG deal ...appropriate punishment will be widely discussed ...welcome AB for NW telecast ...wishing Evernham and Craven would be paired once again ...hope to survive Marty's performance at Indy ...will try for live streaming of IMS radio broadcastWalter